Planting the seeds of change for the Early Childhood Education System of South Dakota

About

Early Education Plantation is a blog community providing resources, dialogue, and connectivity for those interested and invested in the Early Childhood Education environment in South Dakota. Subscribe to receive weekly blog updates, free Ebooks, and access to exclusive podcasts. Comment. Connect. Cultivate change.

Early Education Plantation is authored by Jessica Castleberry from Rapid City, South Dakota. Jessica instructed preschoolers for over a decade before opening Little Nest Preschool in 2010. Jessica has also taught many specialized art, music, dance, yoga, and drama classes for preschoolers for organizations such as the Dahl Arts Center, Black Hills Community Theatre, the Academy of Dance Arts, Meadowlark Productions, Storybook Island Children’s Theatre, and the Rapid City and Douglas School Systems, among others. Jessica is an early childhood education conference presenter, author of two books, numerous articles on parenting and education, preschool music songwriter, and an advocate for the professionalism of early childhood educators for the state of South Dakota.

Jessica is a graduate of the 2015 Women in Leadership series from Black Hills State University and was awarded the South Dakota CEO Young Enterprising Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2016.

Jessica has a commitment to the community of Rapid City. She serves as the treasurer for the Women’s Network of Rapid City, and is the head of the committee for the Rapid City Early Childhood Educator of the Year Award. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the South Dakota Association of Child Care Directors, and the Board of Directors for the South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children.